Jeff Schiffman, director of admission at Tulane University, shares some great advice for college freshmen, the overarching theme of which I believe is just as applicable for high school students.
“Stop comparing yourself to others on social media. All at once, your friends from home are going to head to colleges around the world. And all at once, it will become a contest to see who can show how incredibly epic their first few weeks are. It can be so easy to fall down the rabbit hole of looking at everyone else’s experiences and comparing them to your own. The reality is that everyone has ups and downs in the first five weeks. There will be times of loneliness, homesickness, and anxiety: even at a school ranked #4 for the happiest students. When you look at Instagram, you are comparing your worst moments to everyone else’s best moments. So, next time you experience the natural low points that everyone experiences when they arrive at college: put down the phone. Go for a run. Head to the gym. Meditate. Just don’t compare yourself to others.”